Ordering information is at the end of this file COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION AND THE ONLINE CLASSROOM
IN DISTANCE LEARNING
INTRODUCTIONFROM MARKS IN THE SAND TO COMPUTER CONFERENCING VIA FIBER OPTICSThroughout the history of human communication, advances intechnology have powered paradigmatic shifts in education (Frick,1991). Technology changes both what we can do and what we decideis best to do; big shifts in culture cannot occur until the toolsare available. The printing press is an example. Before itsinvention there were people who could read and write; yet notmuch reading and writing took place because, for one thing, bookswere costly and scarce. The press enabled widespread literacy,with books accessible and more affordable for all. The spread ofliteracy in turn changed both the educational system and theclass structure, with consequences that still shape our attitudestoday. When people began to accumulate knowledge through thetechnology of writing and reading, they found a way to preserveit through succeeding generations without relying on memory-greatly changing the way education was conducted. The impact ofthe printing press on students of the time has been analyzed andreanalyzed. No longer did students have to write or remembereverything the teacher delivered; students could use books. Butthey did not completely give up the oral/aural connection;witness the popularity of lecture classes even now. As newtechnology enables shifts at the level of delivery, oldtechnologies are augmented, not totally replaced. Even thoughmany of us have computers at our disposal, we still use books,speech, and pen or pencil writing in education. More recently, the general availability of electricity hasfostered an almost universal use of such inventions as radio,television, and, increasingly, computers. For decades,educational technologists have likened the impact of televisionand other electronic ways of presenting information to the impactof the printing press on learning. Although to date televisionhas not had nearly the impact on school learning that books havehad, we have yet to determine whether its impact on education asa whole will be as great and long lasting. Schooling is only apart of education. Much of education takes place outside of schooling, both asplanned activities and unplanned learning. We may not understandthe instructional goals of the Music Television (MTV) channelbroadcasts, and those goals may differ from those of educators,but that does not mean MTV viewers do not learn anything.Ultimately we must consider what kind of world we as educatorswant to build. If we envision the merger of computers andtelecommunications as a new tool for teaching and learning, nowis the time to clearly articulate and promulgate our goals inorder to shape future uses of instructional technology.EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMSFor communications to take place, at a bare minimum, there mustbe a sender, a receiver, and a message. If this message isintended as instruction, then besides student, teacher, andcontent, we must also consider the environment in which thiseducational communication occurs-an environment that benefits theeducational system in some ways and constrains it in others. Partof this learning environment can include various technologies andmedia. If "the medium is the message;" that is, if technologychanges what we can do and how we think about it, then thevarious media enabled by instructional technology also changeboth what we can do in education and how we conceive of it. For many years, educators have been exploring ways tocombine theories of differing learning styles and student-constructed knowledge with the theory of practice-centeredlearning. Instead of being passive recipients of knowledge, wenow consider students capable of constructing their own knowledgewith guidance from the teacher. We can offer part of thistutorial guidance by setting up an environment that will providestudents with the resources necessary for independentexploration. In using emerging computer-based technology as aresource, students are encouraged to explore their own interestsand to become active educational workers, with opportunities tosolve some authentic problems. As an agent for socialization (Margolies, 1991) andcollaboration, the networked computer has an even greaterpotential in education than does the stand-alone, knowledge-server type of computer. The active environment of sociallearning provided by a computer with access to local, national,and international networks increases interaction andcommunication among students, their teachers, peers, parents, andother members of the world community. Although there are somedifferences between distance education and classroom education,the significant issues concerning the use of computer networkingand other emerging technologies to promote learning in both aresimilar.FROM DISTANCE EDUCATION TO DISTANCE LEARNINGIn addition to being entertained, viewers seem to learn from theMusic Television (MTV) channel's eclectic mix of music videos,news, instruction, and information on the world of popular musicand performers. Broadcast at a distance, MTV's educationalcontent appears largely unplanned in the sense that educators arenot directly involved. However, the distance education noworiginating from universities and colleges attempts to planeducational content and activities for students removed in placeand time from their instructors. Historically, we have not done a very good job ofimplementing the concept of learner-centered education indistance education. As Thornburg (1991) points out, it isdifficult, at best, to instill a mindset of lifelong learning inothers if we do not understand it and demonstrate it ourselves.One of the reasons that we have failed in this area has been thatthe tools were not available to do much besides deliver education(as opposed to enable learning) at a distance. Now, computers andtelecommunications have opened the way to formats other than pen-and-paper correspondence courses and allow for a moreinteractive, integrated learning environment. The type of change enabled by computer-mediatedcommunication (CMC) does not just involve adding new technologyto old ways of organizing teaching and learning (Moore, 1993).Although the perennial problem is still one of instructionalcontent and design, we must not pave over old cow paths. In thefollowing chapters, we discuss how education is changing. Theparadigm shift is from a teaching environment to a learningenvironment. Another notion current in educational circles is that weneed to develop motivated, skillful, lifelong learners. Asknowledge in many fields increases exponentially, we cannot hopeto fill up students as if they were passive, empty vessels.During formal schooling, aspiring professionals can only begin totake in the amount of information that they will need duringtheir career life times. The knowledge base of certain fields mayhave appeared static for decades, but we can no longer acceptthat view. Therefore, we must teach students to become lifelonglearners by helping them locate the resources to continuelearning. Distance educators are now beginning to focus on a relatedset of notions: (a) there are different learning styles, (b)students create their own meaning when learning new things, and(c) what makes a difference in content retention and transfer isnot so much what is done by teachers, but what students aslearners can be encouraged to do themselves. Much has been written about the importance of accommodatingthe learning styles of different kinds of students. Suffice it tosay here that too often students have little choice in what tolearn, how to learn it, or when to learn it. The body ofliterature on constructivism which has emerged over the past fewdecades has also contributed to our understanding of learningstyles. When content is meaningless to the students' world view,when they are taught as if they were passive recipients ofknowledge, or when they have little engagement in theinstructional tasks, students have no incentive to constructtheir own knowledge and little motivation to retain informationor transfer its use to novel situations. The notion of practice-centered learning (PCL) is alsoimportant to distance learning. As we learn more about howlearning occurs, it becomes increasingly clear that theeducational process takes place in a complex internal andexternal environment. One of the teacher's roles is to become thecreator of an effective external learning environment thatstimulates the environment within. How do teachers and developersof instruction create environments that are conducive to andenhance student learning? The technology that can help provide these new environmentsfor education is emerging. This technology allows us to utilizesuch methods as cooperative learning, to recognize such conceptsas interdisciplinary needs in education, and to provide anenvironment in which collaborative efforts are rewarded. Thesemethods foster a view of knowledge in which expertise isdistributed and created among the different participants(Collins, 1991). Now there is no shortage of technology, only ashortage of the educational vision necessary to use thetechnology to create new educational environments.HOW COMPUTERS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS FIT INWhat we have been discussing is a reengineering of education, notonly in the sense of rethinking the organization of site-basedschools, but also in the sense of finding ways to unite computersand telecommunications and bring down the schoolhouse walls; todeliver instructional content when and where it is needed-whetherin the home, the workplace, or the school. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) promotes a type ofinteraction that is often lacking in the traditional teacher-based classroom. It allows learners the freedom to explorealternative pathways-to find and develop their own style oflearning. What if content could be delivered in the form ofgraphics, text, and/or full-motion video, whenever and whereverin the world it is requested? How do we, as teachers andeducators, responsibly participate in and make use of theinevitable technological changes at hand? Computers are not a threat to the teacher (although the roleof the teacher must change when using them), but computers maythreaten the chalkboard. Computer technologies allowprofessionals to share with students tools that we use daily.Further, as educators, we can provide guidance to help studentsdevelop meaningful ways to construct their own knowledge, much aswe ourselves do. Technology enables us to implement these new visions indistance learning. Berge (in press) points out that:[T]echnology makes it possible that these investigations are notlimited to students from one classroom, school, grade, or countrynecessarily-nor to exclude experts in the field of inquiry fromthe collaboration. Effective learning hinges on active engagementby the student and the construction of knowledge on their ownleads to understanding [Sheingold, 1991]. This learning is not asolitary process. Rather, it occurs in a larger world of peopleand technology. CMC and networking in general can promote long-distancecollaboration among students and content specialists in manydifferent areas. The integrated use of technology offers manyeducational opportunities and possibilities when driven by soundvisions of learning. The students' ability to create knowledgecan be enhanced when their instructors use varied instructionaldelivery formats to provide a richer environment than is used inmost distance education practiced today. However, as Sheingold(1991) points out, these ambitious new goals for studentlearning, along with radical changes in the students' roles thosegoals bring about, must be met with radical, ambitious changes inthe educational process. Indeed, information technology offersoptions for reorganizing and refining distance education. But ournew visions of distance learning must drive our decisions aboutour use of technology, not vice versa. Although major cultural shifts do not occur without thetools that make them possible, once those tools are at hand, theshifts are inevitable. Emerging technologies, such as interactivetelevision and the "superhighway" for information exchange, maylook different depending on who builds them (e.g., telephonecompanies, cable television companies, federal governments), butwe may be assured that they will be built by someone. How we aseducators will participate in this enterprise is a issue thatdeserves our closest attention. More than merely a shift withineducation, our participation in this movement will bring aboutmajor shifts in society and culture. As the number of studentsoutside the ages of 18 to 25 increases, and the number of personsrequiring off-campus classes rises, the very existence and futureof a university or college may hinge on serving this newlydefined and diverse population. In this book, we hope to show howCMC can help serve that population. In combination with other media, computers can utilize aninstructional design that teaches to the multiple intelligencesthat Gardner (1983) speaks of in Frames of Mind (linguistic,logico-mathematical, intrapersonal, spatial, musical, bodilykinesthetic, and interpersonal). The idea behind thisinstructional design is to use as many methods and formats forinstruction (e.g., small group discussion, graphics, lecture,hands-on labs, writing/reflection, sound, CMC, and conferencing)as possible, provided that instructional goals and design dictatetheir use.EXAMPLES OF CMC IN DISTANCE LEARNINGThe authors in this book use technological advances that enablethem to start implementing some of the educational ideas we havebeen discussing with their students. Instead of unwittinglysupporting isolated efforts by individual distance learners, theyencourage discussion and collaboration. Rather than aninstitutional or teacher-centered approach to instruction, theseeducators take a more learner-centered approach. Educators around the world are experimenting with and layingthe foundation for new opportunities for learners to accesseducation through connections and technologies that did not exist10 years ago. How will these new options affect our understandingof the educational process? What provisions should we be makingnow to prepare ourselves and our students to use this newtechnology of CMC in the most pedagogically sound and costeffective ways? To begin to answer some of these questions,Justus Lewis, Janet Whitaker, and John Julian in Chapter 1identify models for distance education and discuss some of theissues raised and opportunities provided by computercommunications within distance-learning environments. Morten Paulsen in Chapter 2 presents an array ofillustrative CMC applications for online classrooms and distanceeducation programs. Each application is classified according toits predominant communication paradigm: one-alone, one-to-one,one-to-many, and many-to-many. Included in the one-alone sectionare applications that utilize online resources: information(online databases and online journals), software (onlineapplications and software libraries), and people (online interestgroups and individual experts). As examples in the section onone-to-one CMC, Paulsen includes learning contracts, mentorship,apprenticeship, and correspondence study. These applications arecharacterized by one-to-one relationships and by individualizedlearning. In discussing one-to-many applications, such as lectures andskits, Paulsen differentiates them from other forms of CMC bytheir use of presentation techniques in which learners are notusually invited to interact. With many-to-many CMC applications,all participants have the opportunity to take part in the kind ofinteraction that can be facilitated in computer conferencingsystems. In this section, Paulsen discusses such techniques asdebate, simulation, role play, discussion groups, transcript-based assignments, brainstorming, the delphi technique, thenominal group technique, and project groups. In conclusion, Paulsen notes that the applications presentedare by no means meant to constitute an exhaustive list. Theyrepresent, however, a comprehensive set of examples that show therange of techniques available for designers of CMC courses. Effective design is essential to the success of an onlinecourse, and the next chapter focuses on design. Using theirrecent experience designing an online adult education graduateseminar as an example, Dan Eastmond and Linda Ziegahn (Chapter 3)outline essential issues, considerations, and tasks forinstructional development with CMC to which the course designermust attend. These considerations include overall course designissues, resource allocation, syllabus creation, activityselection, online structure production, and evaluation planning.Appropriate attention to these items during the design phaseinforms the development and delivery phases of the online course,thereby creating a "good learning experience" for adult collegestudents. Morten Paulsen's second chapter (Chapter 4) presents areview and analysis of the literature relevant to moderatingeducational conferences on computer networks. He suggests thatmoderators should identify their preferred pedagogical styles,based on their philosophical orientation, their chosen moderatorroles, and their preferred facilitation techniques. The authorassigns the moderator role three functions: the organizational,the social, and the intellectual. To help moderators improvetheir moderating skills, Paulsen organizes facilitationtechniques recommended in the literature according to these threerole functions. Finally, the author assists moderators in findingtheir pedagogical style by identifying some possiblephilosophies, roles, and facilitation techniques discussed in theliterature. Rae Wahl Rohfeld and Roger Hiemstra (Chapter 5)draw on theirexperience teaching in the Syracuse University Distance EducationProgram to examine the experiences of both course facilitatorsand students in courses delivered via CMC. They found thateffective courses via CMC are based on a learner-centeredapproach to education in which facilitators and students shareresponsibility and participation in learning and teaching. Toinitiate such a process, facilitators must make sure they andtheir students have adequate training and support on theelectronic system. They must also do a great deal of advanceplanning to teach a course via the new medium. By initiating avariety of activities, both on and off-line, facilitators canencourage an active, challenging learning environment. As theclass conference progressed, Rohfeld and Hiemstra found thatdifferent strategies were necessary to keep energy high. Those involved in the Syracuse University Distance EducationProgram were highly satisfied with this mode of learning oncethey got past initial difficulties with technology. Because thecourses were delivered by CMC, students were able to takeconsiderable control over their learning in terms of how theyscheduled both personal study time and group-interaction time,how much personal contact they had with the instructor and otherlearners, and how they contributed to the class. Rohfeld andHiemstra are confident that courses delivered via CMC can meetimmediate learning needs as well as help learners increase self-direction in their ongoing learning. In the sixth chapter, Morton Cotlar and James N. Shimabukurodescribe their use of electronic guest lectures to stimulatethinking and interaction among students. This technique, likeother applications of CMC in education, shows promise. However,the degree to which students interact in meaningful ways with theguest lecturers seems to be related to the style of the lecture.Three different lecturers addressed a graduate course (throughtext documents posted to the class discussion group, with theinvitation for follow-up questions and discussion) and evokedmarkedly different degrees and types of responses. The authorsanalyzed the style of each lecture to explore the relationshipbetween style and responsiveness. Extraordinary findings showedthat the extent of personalization and readability in thelectures strongly influenced responsiveness. Cotlar andShimabukuro invite others to replicate this kind of study tovalidate their findings. Rachelle Heller and Greg Kearsley (Chapter 7) describe theirexperiences using a combination of instructional television and acomputer bulletin board system (BBS) to teach graduate studentsin computer science and education. The television componentprovided a medium for lectures, guest interviews, and softwaredemonstrations, whereas the bulletin board was used to stimulateinteraction among students and the instructors. Heller andKearsley used a variety of different strategies to encourageinteraction on the BBS, including assignments, discussionquestions, and team activities. Based on the evaluationscompleted by the students in their courses, the authors concludedthat the combination of media works very effectively. In Chapter 8 Alexander McAuley describes an innovative useof CMC to support cost-effective communication links across widedistances in the Baffin area of the Canadian North WestTerritories. The region's 3,100 kindergarten to Grade 12 studentsattend 20 schools, and approximately 90% of the students areInuit and speak Inuktitut as their first language. The currentheart of K-12 CMC on Baffin Island is an electronic bulletinboard, with electronic mail and a conferencing system (supportingboth synchronous and asynchronous communications) called"Takujaksat," which translates roughly from Inuktitut as "thingsyou might like to see." One of the most interesting andsuccessful projects to make regional use of Takujaksat is anelectronic newsletter called TGIF. Made up from contributionssubmitted by students from around Baffin, it is compiled, edited,and distributed electronically every Friday by students atTakijualuk School in Pond Inlet. The Baffin School District's efforts to increase the use ofCMC include providing an online component intended to follow upall face-to-face staff in-services and sponsoring projects thatrequire student interaction via the online environment. Thedistrict also encourages interested teachers to coordinate andplan a project together through CMC and present it in theclassroom. They then identify those teachers who are predisposedto work in this collaborative manner and attempt to match themwith people and projects they will find rewarding and exciting.
In justifying the support for CMC in Baffin schools,McAuley's examples also indicate a number of requirements forsuccess: (a) CMC must have a strong user base at the local levelbefore it can be widely used at a distance, (b) effective use ofCMC demands specific conditions and skills, and (c) teachers andstudents must be supported in acquiring those skills. The authornotes that future work will focus on all three of those areas. Claire McInerney (Chapter 9) explores a method ofintegrating CMC within the curriculum of a course oncommunications technology designed for nontraditional studentsstudying information management. Through anecdotal evidence drawnfrom student and faculty experiences, McInerney looks at some ofthe anticipated outcomes of CMC as well as the unanticipatedbenefits and limitations of CMC. Ken and Carrie Loss-Cutler represent a growing group ofhomeschooling parents who are incorporating CMC into theircurriculum and taking advantage of the resources available on theInternet. In Chapter 10 the Loss-Cutlers provide details on thevarious electronic discussion groups that deal specifically withalternative schoolers' interests and describe some of thebeneficial network-supported activities available to homeschooledstudents. Since 1986 Jason Ohler has directed a Master's degreeprogram in Education Technology at the University of Alaska,Southeast. Although the program seeks to empower teachers to beeffective, creative, and socially responsible users of a widerange of new technologies, one area of instructional technologyreceives particular emphasis: educational applications oftelecommunications and CMC. During the past six years, Ohler hastaught, worked with, provided in-services for, and consulted onnumerous projects by K-12 teachers and students in the field ofeducational telecommunications. This is the experiential basethat informs Chapter 11. Ohler provides a vision as well as a practical road map foreducators wishing to offer extended training intelecommunications to fellow K-12 teachers and their students. Asthe basis of this chapter, Ohler uses the syllabus of a 15-weekcourse on educational telecommunications for the classroomteacher he has been teaching for the past five years. In Chapter 12 Christopher Baker and Thomas Buller observethat primary and secondary school systems are so burdened by alack of funding that they usually cannot afford the tools andconnections needed for CMC. Dedicated, wide-area computer networkconnections offer many features ranging from e-mail to peerdiscussions and have the potential to revolutionize education,but these dedicated connections are currently too costly forstruggling K-12 schools. However, specialized access servicessuch as NGS Kidsnetwork, CompuServe, and Argonne's NEWTON offerteachers and students a chance to experience the "globalclassroom" without the global price tag. Ava L. Fajen and J. Scott Christianson examine the use ofBulletin Board System (BBS) networks as an educational resource,specifically in primary and secondary classrooms, in Chapter 13.BBS networks are distributed group conferencing systems (Santoro,1993) that allow teachers and students from around the world tointeract with each other electronically in "virtual classrooms,"sharing information and collaborating on learning projects. Thischapter presents a brief history of BBS networks, explains thebasic principles of BBS networking, and explores two BBS networksdevoted to K-12 education: the Free Education Mail (FrEdMail)network and K12Net (a subdivision of the Fidonet BBS network).The authors also present a short summary of off-line mailreaders, electronic mail tools used to decrease online time andcosts. Jill Ellsworth (Chapter 14) discusses not only specificsources of information useful to distance educators, but alsocovers some of the principle information management toolsavailable on the Internet: Archie, Gopher, Veronica, andWorldwide Web. Scholars on the net can use these tools to locatea variety of information resources available through theInternet. Online information about distance education comes from manysources and is available in many forms. There are severalscholarly discussion groups distributed via LISTSERVs, forexample, that focus on issues of concern to distance educators.In addition there are archives of papers, conferenceannouncements, calls for papers, electronic journals, literaturereviews, software, books, guides, library catalogs, resourcedatabases and more-all accessible with a few keystrokes . The key to accessing Internet information, says Ellsworth,is to gain familiarity with the sources and to use themregularly. Users need to take the time to keep up with theInternet, a dynamic system in which the resources can changeevery day, and to which new, more user-friendly search tools areconstantly being added online.ReferencesBerge, Z. L. (1994). Beyond computers as tools: Reengineeringeducation. Computers In The Schools, 10(3).Collins, A. (1991, September). The role of computer technology inrestructuring schools. Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 28-36.Frick, T. W. (1991). Restructuring education through technology(Fastback Series No. 326). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta KappaEducational Foundation.Margolies, R. (1991, January). The computer as social skillsagent. T.H.E. Journal, pp. 70-71.Moore, M. G. (1993). Is teaching like flying? A total systemsview of distance education. American Journal of DistanceEducation, 7(1), 1-10.Sheingold, K. (1991, September). Restructuring for learning withtechnology: the potential for synergy. Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 17-27.Santoro, G. (1995) Overview of computer-mediatedcommunication in education. In Zane Berge and Mauri Collins(Eds.) Computer-mediated communication and the online classroom:Overview and perspectives. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Thornburg, D. D. (1991). Education, technology and paradigms ofchange for the 21st century. 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